Embodiments described herein relate generally to control of distribution of content over a network, and in particular, to methods and apparatus for widget sharing between content aggregation points.
The world wide web is a platform that has been used to exchange various forms of content including videos, text, music, etc. Often this content is distributed to users and/or computers in an ad-hoc fashion, for example, using e-mail or as files embedded in a webpage. Recently, primitive forms of “viral” distribution or replication of content have been developed that allow users to more easily spread content to other users than previously known ad-hoc methods. Although these primitive methods are more convenient than distributing content in an ad-hoc fashion, they have many shortcomings. For example, they do not provide for the ability to easily add and/or invoke services related to the content, and services, if any exist, cannot be dynamically modified and/or invoked. The spreading of content using ad-hoc methods and/or primitive forms of viral spreading may not be tracked in a desirable way. Content also may not be readily shared with users of different platforms (e.g., personal computer to mobile device). Accordingly, methods and apparatus are needed to address the shortfalls of present technology and to provide other new and innovative features related to widget sharing.